If you’re seeking employment but haven’t had any luck thus far, perhaps it’s time to look into startups. New companies are hidden gems of opportunity, especially for young professionals who are entering the workforce. Before you go dismissing the idea entirely, check out the top four benefits of working for a startup.

1. Faster Upward Mobility

Because there are generally fewer employees at a startup, the opportunities for advancement are significantly increased. Factor in high turnover rates and you’ve got some great odds working in your favor. Sure, you may not be getting paid as much as you would at a major corporation, but in the long-term you’ll get to where you want to go a whole lot quicker.

2. Interaction with Leadership

When working for a startup, it’s not uncommon to see the CEO in office every day. Because startups are so small, it puts you in direct communication with the company’s top executives. In other words, you’ll have the opportunity to make your voice heard and wield some influence.

3. Your Work is Directly Impactful

Starting a company is not easy. That’s why launching a new product or service requires a great amount of effort on behalf of everyone involved. If you happen to snag a position at a startup, it means that your role is vital to the overall function of the organization. That often translates to incredibly fulfilling work, as you’ll feel valued and appreciated.

4. They’re Unstable

For some people, this is more of a con than it is a pro. But for those of us who prefer to live life on the edge, it’s incredibly exciting!

There are no guarantees when it comes to startups. The company can go under at any time, which either terrifies you or motivates you depending on the kind of person you are. The fact that you’re always walking a tight rope between employment and impending doom means that you have to stay on your A-game 100% of the time.

Tell me: have you ever worked for a startup? What was your experience like? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

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Mississippi is the worst state to live in if you are unemployed. IMG: via Shutterstock.

Being unemployed is the worst – unless of course you have a job lined up or you are unemployed on purpose. While the national unemployment rate has improved over the past couple of years, 6.3% is still pretty sad. In May of this year, it was the lowest it has been since September of 2008. However, this means that there are still 12 million Americans out of work – which is a lot. And this number isn’t including people who are underemployed or not working 40 hours a week.

24/7 Wall St. used data from The Department of Labor to identify the best and worst states to be unemployed in.

5. Illinois

With an unemployment rate of 7.9%, Illinois has one of the highest in the nation. Job growth is slow (.5%), and nearly three-quarters of the states’ unemployed did not receive benefits.

4. Kentucky

Kentucky’s unemployment rate is 7.7%, and has a very slow job growth rate, at .3%.

3. Michigan

The unemployment rate here is 7.4%, and the job growth rate is .6%. Michigan also has the highest underemployment rate in the U.S., at 15.2%.

2. Alabama

The unemployment rate in Alabama is 7.5% and the job growth rate is .7%. Alabama is the least generous with unemployment insurance, providing residents with only 26.2% of average weekly income.

1. Mississippi

Mississippi is the worst state to be unemployed in. The unemployment rate at 7.6% and the job growth rate is at .9%. What makes this state the worst is the little amount of unemployment insurance offered – an average of just $194 per week.

The best states to be unemployed in include Vermont, Hawaii, Utah, Iowa, and North Dakota.

Think there are an unusually large amount of college grads in your city – well you may be right. Millions of college graduates see graduation as the perfect opportunity to get away. Nothing is holding you down, and you can finally move to the city you’ve dreamed of.

Some large cities are more popular for recent college grads then others, with about 40 percent of new residents comprising recent college grads in the most popular destinations. LinkedIn has been analyzing the migration patterns of users 0-3 years out of college for the past year. Their data keeps track of moves greater than 100 miles.

While some of these cities are not a surprise (who wouldn’t want to move to New York City or Paris?), some may surprise you! Check out the list of the most popular cities to move to for college grads, and see if yours makes the list:

1. Paris

42 percent of new residents in 2013 were recent college grads. A lot of these recent grads are going to BNP Paribas, L’Oréal, LVMH, EDF and Société Générale.

2. Washington D.C.

40 percent of new residents in 2013 were recent college grads. A lot of these recent grads are going to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Defense, World Bank, Booz Allen Hamilton and U.S. Department of Commerce.

3. Minneapolis-St. Paul

40 percent of new residents in 2013 were recent college grads. A lot of these recent grads are going to Target, 3M, General Mills, Wells Fargo and Cargill.

4. Madrid

40 percent of new residents in 2013 were recent college grads. A lot of these recent grads are going to Telefònica, Deloitte, PWC, BBVA and Accenture.

5. New York City

38 percent of new residents in 2013 were recent college grads. A lot of these recent grads are going to JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citi and IBM.

6. Chicago

38 percent of new residents in 2013 were recent college grads. A lot of these recent grads are going to Deloitte, Accenture, PWC, Ernst & Young and Groupon.

7. London

35 percent of new residents in 2013 were recent college grads. A lot of these recent grads are going to Barclays, JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, Goldman, Sachs and KPMG.

8. San Francisco area

34 percent of new residents in 2013 were recent college grads. A lot of these recent grads are going to Google, Oracle, Apple, Cisco and Facebook.

Fast-food workers in 100 cities gathered outside their restaurants to campaign for a $15 an hour pay raise and rights to form unions. The “mini-strikes” were put together by an advocacy group called Fast Food Forward, which advances the higher wages for fast-food workers message. The advocates believe the high pay raise will benefit the American economy overall as minimum-wage positions contributed to much of the job market recovery.

What was once thought of as a job for eager teenagers has quickly turned into some of the only jobs available for people without a college education. The workforce is overwhelmingly adult with more than a third raising children. When these workers are strapped for cash and working for minimum wage, the economy feels that impact and is weakened.

At a 50-person demonstration in front of the Detroit-area McDonald’s, one worker highlighted his struggle to take care of his son on $7.40 an hour as a single parent. Stories like this are fueling workers to organize and protest. The Detroit protest failed to shut down the restaurant, but did manage to get a few employees to walk out and join the cause.

Yum Brands, the parent of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC, released a statement defending the minimum wage payment by stating they pay competitive wages and provide training in hope of advancing their employees. “While entry level positions may begin at the minimum wage, this is a training wage. Once an employee successfully builds their skills, they are able to increase their wages.”

Still, some believe the only way a wage increase will come is if the government steps in and raises it through legislature. Obama has recently expressed his support to raise the minimum wage to $10.10, but Congress has yet to act on any measures regarding pay raises.

There has been a large growth in wages for people with advanced degrees over the past 10 years, but the same is not true for those with Bachelors degrees.

The inflation-adjusted wages of people with a bachelor’s degree declined between 2002 and 2012, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute. Those with advanced degrees had an increase in wages.

A chart made by EPI shows the differences:

2008 is when the wage gap really increased. EPI’s report found that between 2000 and 2012, the income of workers with only a bachelor’s degree compared to those with only a high school diploma was at a rate of about 4 percent for men and less than one percentage point for women. In comparison, that rate was about 14 percent during the 1980s.

The problem is that graduate degrees cost a lot of money. The programs are very rigorous and don’t allow much time for a part time job. Tuition is much higher as well, and students who already have $50,000 or more in debt might feel hesitant about stacking on more in a poor economy.

While this may seem a bit depressing, a bachelor’s degree is still very valuable. Over the past ten years, workers with a bachelor’s degree’s pay stayed about the same, while those with only a high school diploma saw a drop in pay.

In June, the number of job openings in the U.S. rose to the highest level in half a decade as about 29,000 more openings were tacked on. Ironically, even as the total number of positions waiting to be filled rose to about 3.94 million, the pace of hiring slowed to a crawl. In June 2012, the total number of job openings sat around 3.79 million, making this June’s gains about 3.8% over last year.

More employers took on part-time staff last month, though, which caused a drop in the unemployment rate and a rise in payrolls. But many more workers are still looking to be hired or add on second and third jobs. Labor demand is high, but an increase in job openings should improve things some. June also showed a drop in firings and quits, with employees retaining current jobs.

In December 2007, when the recession first began, there were about 1.8 job seekers per job opening posted. Today, that number is hovering around 3 job seekers per opening. To reach pre-recession levels, the U.S. labor market would need to add about 2 million more jobs.

These numbers show that the market is slowly improving, but also that we still have a long way to go before reaching pre-recession economic health. Improvements so far are largely due to the fact that layoffs have finally dropped off to pre-recession levels. Employers are no longer cutting current jobs at record rates, but many are still reluctant to hire on more employees when the economy is still moving so slowly.

It happens everywhere. Companies claim to have no extra money to give their lower level employees raises, while big CEOs get huge bonuses. It’s unfortunate, but companies tend to value their CEOs over people they feel they can replace. One CEO has decided to end the inequality.

One CEO is doing his part to close huge pay gap between himself and his employees. Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska is using his entire $3 million bonus to buy shares for 120 of his more than 72,0000 employees, according to the BBC. While this is a one time thing, if successful, the company may give more awards to employees in similar ways.

While there is speculation that this move may be to distract people from the controversy around him, it still sets a great example. He has been accused of bribery and extortion in various lawsuits, but all claims have been very unsuccessful, according to ABC News.

Sparing his $3 million dollar bonus won’t make a very big cut on his $8.5 billion net worth, he is setting a great example. Bonuses to executives in the United States jumped up 25% last year according to The New York Times.

Deripaska isn’t the only CEO doing this. Yang Yuanqing, the head of technology company Lenovo, gave $3 million of his bonus away to some of his workers last year, but kept $2.2 million of it for himself.

Rhode Island is the number one state where people hate going to work the most.IMG: via Shutterstock

While it’s very true that some people love their jobs a lot more than others, less than 1/3 of U.S. workers were actively engaged in their jobs last year, according to a Gallup Report just released. This poll also showed that 18% of Americans were actively disengaged from their jobs. These workers are, “more likely to steal from their companies, negatively influence coworkers, miss workdays, and drive customers away.” stated Gallup.

“When people that are engaged come to work, they know what’s expected, they fell comfortable in the job that they’re in,” explained Jim Hartner, Gallup’s chief scientist. “They fell they have a manager that helps support them and helps develop them.

Being engaged at your job is not only important to your job performance, but your mental health as well. Workers who are the least-engaged tend to be less happy overall.

A big lesson was learned by a German bank employee recently, don’t fall asleep on the job. While at work, the employee fell asleep on his keyboard and accidentally transferred 222 million euros…that’s a lot of cash.

The Hessen Labour court was told that he was suppose to transfer 62.40 euros, but instead fell asleep and accidentally turned the number into a 222,222,222.22 euro order. Thankfully, the mistake was discovered very soon after it was made.

This case was taken to court because the 48-year-old employee was fired for making this mistake, and did not feel it was a fair punishment. The court ruled that the plaintiff should be reinstated in his job.

Deciding your major once you enter a university is a tough decision. Some people have always known what they want to do, while others are still perplexed at how they want to spend the rest of their lives. According to a new survey of 318 executives at nonprofit organizations and private sector companies, employers look for more than someone who’s specially trained in a field when looking at recent college graduates for a position.

A survey released Wednesday by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, stated that 93 percent of employers thought that “a candidate’s demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly and solve complex problems is more important than their undergraduate major.” 4 out of 5 employers said they wanted a graduate who had broad knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences. While money shouldn’t be the only objective when deciding on a major, here are the top 5 paying college majors of 2012:

1) Computer Engineering – An average salary of $70,400

2) Chemical Engineering – An average salary of $66,400

3) Computer Science – An average salary of $64,400

4) Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering Majors – An average salary of $64,000